The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 39

THIRD EDiTICw ypj '1 32 pages, 4 sections TUESDAY, May 29, 2001 Bloomington-Normal, Illinois 500 py n. 1 to eme nom limn nun i iinij nn tmm mmmmmn mm mm mum wmm U.S., China reach agreement i i The AN-124, which first flew under the Soviet flag in 1982, is made both in the Ukraine and Russia and used commercially. In China, Foreign. Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying the United States would be permitted "in principle" to send an Antonov-124 to pick up the plane. Asked how long it would take to get the plane home, the U.S.

official said: "What we said was we wanted to get the plane back via the quickest possible means. This is one way to get it out in an expedited way. We don't have a timeline." The Navy plane has been at a Chinese air base on the southern island of Hainan since the collision above the South China Sea, a crash See PLANE, back page speaking on condition of anonymity. The transport plane is identified on military Internet sites as the world's largest cargo aircraft. Under this scenario the wings and tail section of the the EP-3, which is about the size of a Boeing 737 commercial jetliner, would be taken off the plane.

The sections would then be flown out in one or two of the huge Russian-designed AN-124 cargo crafts. While there has been speculation that the plane could re reassembled and again made airworthy, it could not be learned Monday if that was for certain. The administration official referred the question to Pentagon technical experts, who could not be reached over the Memorial holiday. WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) A crippled U.S.

spy plane stranded in China will be coming home in pieces, possibly aboard a huge Russian-designed cargo aircraft, under a tentative agreement between U.S. and Chinese officials. The two nations are still negotiating details of the return, officials cautioned Monday, but it appeared the impasse has been broken in the incident that soured U.S.-Chinese relations. The United States has been demanding return of the lumbering EP-3 since it landed in China on April 1 following a collision with a Chinese jet fighter. "People are talking about the AN-124" to fly the spy plane out, a U.S.

administration official said, The PantagraphLORI ANN COOK Remembering the sacrifices Pearl Harbor survivors, from right, Henry Kirkham of Mossville, John Kelly of Jacksonville, Pete Isaac of Clinton, and Graver Walkup of Peoria were honored Monday at the Memorial Day ceremony at Miller Park in Bloomington. Stories are on A3 and A7. Muslim extremists claim kidnappings i' I 'In j1' the capture of rebel leaders. "I am ready to do everything to crush the bandits, to allow the hostages to safely return to their families and to bring back peace," Arroyo said on national television. "To the bandits listen closely.

I will finish what you have started force against force, weapons against weapons. They will only stop hunting you when you're all wiped out or all of you surrender," she said. The group kidnapped three Americans and 17 Filipinos from the upscale Dos Palmas Island Resort in Palawan province on Sunday. The same group seized 10 foreign tourists 13 months ago from a Malaysian resort. Most were released for large ransoms, reportedly paid by Libya.

The story was in the headlines for months, hurting the tourism industry and undercutting investor confidence. Claiming he led Sunday's dawn See MUSLIM, back page Philippine president promises to crush Abu Sayyaf rebels MANILA, Philippines (AP) A Muslim extremist group on Monday issued a veiled threat to harm 20 kidnapped tourists including three Americans while the Philippines president said she would use everything in her power to "crush" the insurgents. One of the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group that kidnapped the tourists claimed responsibility in a satellite telephone call to a local radio station Monday. The rebel, named Abu Sabaya, allowed American Martin Burnham and another hostage to speak too. "We are safe and we are appealing for a peaceful negotiations," Burnham said.

"They are treating us well." President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she would not give in to any ransom demands and instead offered $2 million in rewards for Len Larson showed off his recumbent bike to his class at Cornell Grade School on Tuesday. Rachel Baker, 11, took to the controls and tried out the bike's odd posture, which allows riders to easily travel at 25 mph. 1 Britain cleaning up from weekend racial violence I'M. -L. The PantagraphDAVID PROEBER Feats used to motivate students At one point eight police vans and riot police blocked a road to prevent a group of white youths moving toward the Glodwick district, where many people of Pakistani descent live.

The youths threw garbage cans and bricks at police and set up a burning barricade. But there was no sign of violence at the level of Saturday night's battles. Those clashes, reminiscent in their ferocity of riots that tore through areas like the London district of Brixton in the 1980s, came less than two weeks- before Britain's June 7 general election. Prime Minister Tony Blair, out on the campaign trail in northeast England, said he did not believe the rioting was indicative of widespread racial problems in Britain. "This is obviously a problem that has got to be worked through by See BRITAIN, back page OLDHAM, England (AP) In this hardscrabble former mill town, they swept broken glass and piled up heaps of shattered bricks on Monday, cleaning up after Britain's worst outbreak of racial violence in years.

Harder to rebuild, community leaders say, will be the harmony they insist Oldham a onetime textile center of about 220,000 people on the outskirts of the northern city of Manchester once enjoyed. After two nights of fierce rioting, police and activists alike called for calm and laid much of the blame on far-right groups they say exploited tensions between the town's whites and its large population of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and their descendants. Police, who were pelted with bricks and firebombs during fighting that raged Saturday and Sunday nights, were out in force Monday night, dealing with scattered violence for the third night. strangers who will let him camp in their yards. "Maybe I'll sleep in a police station like Otis on the old "Andy Griffith he joked.

"I'm just going to get a feel for the people of Illinois." Larson plans to cover 60 miles a day, meandering through the small towns and back roads from the Ohio River to Vienna, Mount Vernon, Lake Shelbyville, Clinton, Bloomington-Normal, Pontiac, Cornell (where Larson's students will ride with him for a couple of miles around town), Seneca, Morris, Aurora, Elgin, Fox Lake, Waukegan and Kenosha. In Waukegan, he'll stop to visit the former Deb Spaulding, the now-married girlfriend of his teen-age years. Sneaking out and driving 120-miles to her house in a single night "is where my adventurous spirit began," he said. See TEACHER, Page A4 "six blisters later" near Momence on the Indiana border on June 13. "I try to be a role model for the kids," he said.

"It's one thing to tell them what you can do. It's another thing to get out there and do it. Do as I do, not as I say." Larson and his parents, Leonard and "Boots" Larson of rural Cornell, will drive to Metropolis the afternoon school lets out on Thursday. About 5 a.m. the next day, Larson will set out on his 27-speed recumbent bike all alone and with only the camping gear and supplies he can strap on the bike.

One of his goals is to meet at least three people in each county "and learn their stories," he said. "I don't want to speed through the state. I want to meet people along the way, take pictures and check out the sights and sounds." He may camp out or stay in a couple of motels along the way, but he hopes to meet By ROGER MILLER Pantagraph staff CORNELL What does a fifth-grade teacher do when the school year ends? He could kick back, relax and enjoy a little peace and quiet in the summer sun. Or he could ride his bike the 480-mile length of Illinois. That is what Cornell Grade School's Len Larson is planning to do Friday through June 9, and he wants to take his students along for the ride with the help of daily updates in The Pantagraph.

For Larson, 47, the Metropolis-to-Kenosha, trip is the latest effort in his campaign to motivate his students to set goals and achieve them. The Cornell native walked the breadth of the state last year, starting in Oquawka on the Mississippi River on June 5 and ending News in brief AM Arnold's 37 strikeouts led Nor Monday numbers Pick 3 877 2-606 Pick 4 1-8041 2-2700 Mostly sunny with a pleasant afternoon. Winds at7to14mph. High 74. Details on back page.

Little Lotto 71418 2124 land for a one-acre park on the site where the Kickapoo Nation had lived for Story on A3 Jackpots mal Community High School's softball team to a historic 1-0, 20-inning victory Monday over its Intercity archrival Normal Community West High School at Washington. Story on Bl Abby D4 Business C1 Classified C3 Comics D6 Crossword D5 Entertainment D5 Focus D1 Horoscope D4 Obituaries Opinion A8 Sports B1 Lotto $5.5 million Big Game $9 million For the past week's winning numbers, call 829-9000, category 771 1 Choosing valedictorians is handled differently by area schools. Many end up with multiple valedictorians, where others opt for a single class representative. Story on A2 New leads have surfaced after Clayton Lee Waagner was shown on the television show "America's Most Wanted" on Saturday night. Police say he may be hiding in the Allegheny National Forest.

Story on A2 The spirit of the late Doris Emmett will be at the forefront at this weekend's Fourth annual Grand Village of the Kickapoo Park Pow Wow, which attracted about 6,000 American Indians and spectators last year. Doris and her husband, Bill, donated the Today's weather symbol was drawn by Mark Osnowitz, age 11, of Prairieland Elementary School, Bloomington. ThefPantagraph CONNECVNG CENTRAL ILLINOIS Pantagraph main phone number: (309) 829-9411 Save with home delivery Call 827-7323 or 1-800-747-7323 or e-mail circpantagraph.com Dwight and Olympia will compete for the sectional championship today after victories Monday in the Central Catholic Class A Sectional softball semifinals. The championship game is at 5 p.m. at IWU.

Story on Bl Flower growers are trying to recover from a winter of high natural gas prices, just as the business of flowers is in bloom at the start of the summer season. Story on CI The Pantagraph uses recycled mi paper and soy ink. CopyrfgM 2001 Tha Pwitognpti CITYLINE 829-9000 ON THE WEB www.pantagraph.com.